OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday he was leaving his struggling Labor party and setting up a new centrist party called “Independence,” in a move set to strengthen the Israeli government. The surprise decision will see Barak and four other deputies leave the strife-torn faction as the result of a “shift to the left” within the party, which he has led since 2007. But with Barak's new party set to remain in government, the move looked likely to stabilize and even strengthen the largely rightwing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have presented a request to the Knesset to recognize us as a new faction that will be called ‘Independence'... which will be centrist, Zionist and democratic,” Barak said at a news conference broadcast live on Israeli radio. Barak's announcement was widely seen as coordinated in advance with Netanyahu in a move which could strengthen his coalition, giving him a “stable majority” of 66 MPs in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament, army radio said. In return, Netanyahu had agreed to allow Barak and the other two senior party members to continue holding their ministerial posts, the radio said. “The state of Israel is facing tests which are not simple, at the centre of which is the political process with the Palestinians and within the region, security tests and complex challenges regarding the economy and society,” Barak said. “We are ready to face them.” Barak, one of the most powerful members of the government, said he was tired of the infighting within Labor. He accused his former partners of moving too far to the dovish end of the political spectrum. “We are embarking on a new path,” he said during a news conference at Israel's parliament. “We want to wake up without having to compromise, apologize and explain.” He said the new faction - to be called Independence - would be “centrist, Zionist and democratic.” He did not take any questions. Israeli commentators said the decision was a tactical move by Barak aimed at protecting his position as defense minister and remaining in the ruling coalition following increasing pressure from Labor deputies to quit over the impasse in peace talks with the Palestinians. But shortly after Barak's announcement, opposition leader Tzipi Livni called for new elections, saying the government “lost its legitimacy today and is living off small political maneuvers.” Until now, Labor had been the third-largest party in Netanyahu's coalition, with 13 Knesset seats. Barak took four others with him - Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon, Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai and MPs Einat Wilf and Orit Noked. Shortly afterwards, Isaac Herzog, who holds the social affairs portfolio, became the first Labor minister to quit the government, while stressing he would stay with the party. Netanyahu had Sunday accused Labor of being responsible for the deadlock in peace talks, saying its threat to quit the coalition was the main factor preventing the Palestinians from returning to the table, Haaretz daily said. Peace talks broke down in late September, just three weeks after they were launched, over Israel's refusal to renew an expiring settlement freeze in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Since then, Israel has announced plans to build hundreds of homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
